JP2002190177A - Single-reel tape cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that imperfect unlocking is caused by the inclination of a reel retainer, when a lock is unlocked, due to the side-to-side slippage of the reel retainer or a spring in a single-reel tape cartridge where a reel- locking mechanism is provided between the inner bottom of the boss of the reel and an upper case. SOLUTION: A lock-releasing tool 18, the reel retainer 16 and the spring 17 are arranged between the inner bottom of the boss 12 of the reel 2 and the upper case 1a. The reel retainer 16 is kept to vertically move with a guiding projection 15 provided on the upper case 1a but not to rotate. Rock teeth 19 and 20 which gear with each other are provided at the inner bottom of the boss 12 and at the opposite face to the reel retainer 16. The spring 17 is formed with a taper-coil spring which tapers off in the upper direction, and thereby the reel retainer 16 and the spring 17 are prevented from the side-to-side slippage to the guiding projection 15, and the reel retainer 16 is prevented from inclining when the lock is released, and the unlocking is surely achieved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single-reel type tape cartridge represented by a magnetic recording medium of a data recorder for a computer, and to an improved reel lock mechanism thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tape cartridge of this type is known, for example, from Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-238352. There, a boss 4 provided at the center of the reel 40 as shown in FIG.
A reel lock mechanism that prevents idle rotation of the reel 40 when not in use is provided between the inner bottom of the case 1 and the upper wall of the case body 42. The reel lock mechanism includes a cross-shaped guide protrusion 43 provided on the upper case, a reel presser 44 that is engaged and guided by the guide protrusion 43 so as to be slidable only up and down,
A spring 45 for pressing down and pushing the reel presser 44, and lock teeth 46.4 provided on the reel presser 44 and the bottom wall of the boss 41.
7 and a lock release tool 48 and the like. A regulation wall 49 for regulating tilting is provided in a circumferential shape around the periphery of the reel presser 44.

The unlocking tool 48 has three legs 50 projecting from the lower surface of the reel 40. When the driving teeth 51 of the reel 40 are pushed up by the drive shaft of the tape drive, the unlocking tool 48 is unlocked. Is lifted from the inner bottom surface of the boss 41, and at the same time, the reel presser 44 rises. As a result, the engagement between the lock teeth 46 and 47 is released, and the reel 40 can be driven to rotate.

[0004]

In the above-described tape cartridge, the upper and lower ends of the spring 45 formed by a compression coil spring are merely received by the case upper wall and the guide projection 43. Moreover, the coil diameter of the spring 45 is slightly larger than the diameter of an imaginary circle circumscribing the outline of the guide projection 43. Therefore, the reel presser 44 is
There is room to move in the radial direction with respect to the center of 3, and there is also room to move the spring 45 itself with respect to the guide projection 43. The center of the reel presser 44 or the spring 45
If the guide projection 43 is deviated from the center, a tilting moment acts on the reel presser 44 at the time of unlocking, so that the entire reel presser 44 is tilted, and both lock teeth 46.4 are used.
There is a risk that the seven members will abut and engage at the lower end of the slope. If the reel 40 is rotated while the lock is not sufficiently released in this way, abnormal tension acts on the tape to expand and deform the tape, and in the worst case, a serious accident such as cutting of the tape occurs. In some cases, the lock teeth 46 and 47 are missing,
Alternatively, the reel may be abnormally worn and the reel lock may not be reliably performed. Further, since the spring 45 is formed of a simple cylindrical compression coil spring, the linearity and the number of turns must be selected within the range of the entire compression dimension of the spring 45, and the degree of freedom in designing the spring 45 is reduced. There were also restrictions.

Incidentally, the guide projection 43 and the reel presser 44
Since only the slide is freely engaged with the rib 53 provided on the reel 53, it is useful to prevent the reel presser 44 from tilting. However, since it is necessary to smoothly slide the reel presser 44 up and down, it is necessary to secure a certain amount of clearance in the sliding portion between the rib 53 and the guide protrusion 43, and it is necessary that the reel presser 44 be tilted by this clearance. Inevitable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to restrict the tilting of a reel press when a reel lock mechanism is unlocked, so that the reel can always be unlocked reliably.
An object of the present invention is to improve the reliability of this type of tape cartridge by eliminating a serious accident such as elongation deformation or breakage of the tape that may occur when the reel is not sufficiently unlocked, or loss of the lock teeth or drive teeth. Another object of the present invention is to
It is an object of the present invention to increase the degree of freedom in design of a spring for the reel presser, and to press and urge the reel presser with a more appropriate spring pressure.

[0007]

As shown in FIG. 2, a tape cartridge according to the present invention has a box-shaped case body 1 in which a single reel 2 on which a tape 3 is wound is disposed. A reel lock mechanism is provided between the inner bottom of the boss 12 provided at the center of the reel 2 and the upper wall of the case body 1 to prevent the reel 2 from rotating freely when not in use. The reel lock mechanism includes a guide protrusion 15 protruding from the inner surface of the upper wall of the case body 1, a reel press 16 guided by the guide protrusion 15 so as to be slidable only up and down, and a reel press 1
6, the lock teeth 19 and 20 provided between the reel presser 16 and the inner bottom of the boss 12 and meshing with each other. 20 includes a lock release tool 18 for releasing the engagement of the lock 20. The upper end and the lower end of the spring 17 are
To the upper wall and the seat portion 21 of the reel presser 16 so as to be non-movable in the radial direction.

More specifically, the spring 17 is constituted by a taper spring having an upwardly tapered shape.
The upper end of the spring 17 is tightly joined to the base end of the guide projection 15 in a state of being fitted outside, and the lower end of the spring 17 is attached to the
Adhesive bonding.

On the periphery of the reel presser 16, a reel presser 1 is provided.
6 is provided with a regulating wall 22 for regulating the tilt of
The base 17 receives the outer peripheral surface of the lower end of the spring 17. That is, the regulating wall 22 can also serve as the spring receiver 36.

[0010]

Since the upper end and lower end of the spring are fixed to the upper wall of the case body and the seat of the reel retainer so as not to freely move in the radial direction, the spring is displaced with respect to the guide projection or the reel is moved. The presser can surely be prevented from being displaced with respect to the spring. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent the tilting of the reel press when performing the unlocking operation of the reel, and to always reliably perform the unlocking operation of the reel lock mechanism, which occurs when the unlocking of the reel is insufficient. The occurrence of serious accidents such as breakage of the obtained tape and loss of the lock teeth or drive teeth can be eliminated, and the reliability of this type of tape cartridge can be improved.

When the spring for holding the reel is constituted by a tapered coil spring having a tapered upper shape, the degree of freedom in design such as the wire diameter and the number of windings of the spring can be increased by the smaller the total compression size of the spring. This makes it possible to optimize the tension, elasticity, and the like of the spring, and more appropriately press and bias the reel presser. As compared with the case where the reel presser is pressed down and urged by the cylindrical compression coil spring, it is advantageous in that the return spring force can be increased when the reel presser is laterally displaced due to a drop impact, for example.

When the outer peripheral surface of the lower end of the spring is received at the base end of the restricting wall, and the restricting wall also serves as the spring receiver, there is no need to manufacture a new reel presser, and the spring is moved radially with the existing structure. Since the tape cartridge can be assembled so as not to move relatively, a new tape cartridge can be manufactured at a low cost.

[0013]

1 to 6 show an embodiment of a single-reel type tape cartridge according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, the tape cartridge accommodates one reel 2 inside a rectangular box-shaped case main body 1 formed by joining upper and lower cases 1a and 1b in a lid-like manner, and a tape 3 is wound around the reel 2. .
A loading pin 4 for pulling out the tape 3 is connected to the feeding end of the tape 3. The loading pin 4 is housed inside a tape outlet 5 opened at the front right corner of the case body 1, and the upper and lower ends thereof are located at the upper case 1.
a and the lower case 1b are engaged with and held by holders 6 provided on the inner surface of the lower case 1b. The tape outlet 5 can be opened and closed by a lid 7 which can be freely opened and closed.

In FIG. 3, the reel 2 has upper and lower flanges 1.
0, 11 and a boss 12 integrally formed with the lower flange 11 and opening upward. A reel lock mechanism is provided between the inner bottom of the boss 12 and the upper wall of the upper case 1a to prevent the reel 2 from rotating freely when not in use. Upper flange 1
Numeral 0 is fixed to the upper end of the boss 12 by welding. At the center of the lower surface of the bottom wall of the boss 12, a circular suction plate 13 is welded and fixed, and drive teeth 14 are provided so as to protrude around the suction plate 13 in a circular shape (see FIG. 6). The attraction plate 13 is formed of a magnetically attractable metal plate such as an iron plate or a steel plate. Drive tooth 1
Numeral 4 is a group of gear teeth extending in the radial direction and having a sawtooth cross section, and as shown in FIG.
Engages with the drive teeth provided on the shaft end face of the drive shaft D to inherit the rotational force of the drive shaft D. The drive teeth 14 are exposed on the outer surface of the case via the drive holes 8 provided in the bottom wall of the lower case 1b.

Referring to FIG. 3, the reel lock mechanism includes a reel presser 16 and a reel presser 16 which are engaged and guided by guide protrusions 15 provided on the inner surface of the upper case 1a, but are not rotatable relative to each other. A compression coil type spring 17 disposed between the case 1a and an unlocking tool 18 disposed between the reel retainer 16 and the upper surface of the bottom wall of the boss 12.
And lock teeth 19 and 20 which are provided on the bottom wall upper surface of the boss 12 and the lower surface of the reel presser 16 and abut against each other to prevent rotation of the reel 2. Guide protrusion 15
As shown in FIG. 4, is formed in a cross-shaped cross section by two guide walls 15a and 15b intersecting at right angles.

In FIG. 4, the reel presser 16 is made of an upwardly opening round plate-shaped plastic molded product having an annular regulating wall 22 projecting from the periphery of a circular seat portion 21 to restrict tilting. Four L-shaped ribs 23 project from the center of the upper surface of the
Is defined. By fitting the guide protrusion 15 into the slide groove 24 of the rib 23, the reel presser 1
6 guides only the vertical slide freely. At the center of the lower surface of the seat 21, as shown in FIG. 3, a partially spherical concave portion 25 is provided. The locking tooth 20 is formed of a tooth body having a chevron cross section extending in the radial direction, and the outer peripheral diameter of the locking tooth 20 is defined by a regulating wall 22.
Is set to be sufficiently smaller than the outer diameter dimension. Note that the spring 17 is mounted so as to be fitted to the guide projection 15 outside,
The lower end is received by the seat 21.

The unlocking tool 18 is made of a press-formed product made of a steel plate such as a stainless steel plate. The three arms 28 are radially extended from the periphery of the circular main surface wall 27 at equal intervals. Leg piece 29 that bends downward at the tip of
Are integrally formed. At the center of the main surface wall 27, a partially spherical projection 30 that enters the recess 25 of the reel presser 16 and pushes up the reel presser 16 is formed to bulge upward. Thus, the reel presser 16 and the unlocking tool 18
Are brought into contact with each other via the partially spherical concave portion 25 and the projection 30 because the center of the both 16 and 18 is displaced when the reel presser 16 is pushed up against the spring 17 by the unlocking tool 18. This is to avoid the friction and to minimize the frictional resistance between the protrusion 30 and the recess 25 when the reel 2 is driven to rotate. The spherical radius of the concave portion 25 is larger than the spherical radius of the projection 30.

As described above, the unlocking device 18 has its main surface wall 27 received and supported by the inner bottom surface of the boss 12. In this receiving state, each arm 28 is
In order to avoid interference with the lock teeth 19 on the two sides,
As shown in FIG. 5, the annular row of the lock teeth 19 is divided at three locations in the circumferential direction, and each arm 28 passes through the divided portion 19a. Leg piece 29 provided at the tip of arm 28
Are projected from the lower surface of the reel 2 through three openings 31 provided in the bottom wall of the boss 12.

Driving teeth 14 provided on the lower surface of the bottom wall of boss 12
Engages with the drive shaft D of the tape drive to inherit the rotational force. The opening 31 is formed in the formation area of the drive teeth 14 so as to push up the unlocking tool 18 using this engagement operation, and the leg piece 29 is projected toward the lower surface of the reel. By providing the opening 31, the strength of the driving tooth 14 intersecting with the opening 31 is reduced, and the driving tooth 14 is easily broken. In order to avoid such a decrease in the strength of the drive teeth 14, three missing tooth portions 32 are provided corresponding to the positions where the openings 31 are formed as shown in FIG. The toothless portion 32 is formed by omitting several drive teeth 14 in a state of reaching the bottom surface of the tooth. When the reel is locked, the leg piece 29 protrudes into the toothless portion 32, but its lower end surface is located on the tooth tip plane of the drive tooth 14.

In the above-mentioned reel lock mechanism, in order to prevent the reel presser 16 and the spring 17 from being displaced with respect to the center of the guide projection 15, the spring 17 is constituted by a tapered coil type spring having an upwardly tapered shape. Then, the upper end of the spring is tightly joined to the base end of the guide projection 15 in a state of being externally fitted thereto, and the lower end of the spring is in close contact with the spring receiver 36 provided on the seat 21. In this embodiment, the regulating wall 22 also serves as the spring receiver 36, and the lower end corner of the regulating wall 22 receives the outer peripheral surface of the spring 17.

When the reel lock mechanism is not used, the reel presser 16 is held non-rotatably by the guide projections 15 and the spring 1
It is always pushed down at 7. Further, lock teeth 19 and 20 provided on the reel presser 16 and the bottom wall of the boss 12 are engaged with each other to lock and hold the reel 2 so that it cannot rotate.

In use, the lid 7 is opened and the loading pin 4 is captured by the loading mechanism. At the same time, as shown in FIG. 3, the drive shaft D is pressed against the lower surface of the bottom wall of the boss 12 to bring the drive teeth into contact with the drive teeth 14 on the reel 2 side. By this joining operation, the lower surface of the reel 2 rises from the bottom wall of the lower case 1b. The leg piece 29 is pushed up by the drive teeth of the drive shaft D and is pushed upward in the opening 31. As a result, the lock releaser 18 pushes up the reel presser 16 against the spring 17, disengages the lock teeth 19 and 20 that have been engaged up to that point, and releases the reel locked state. At this time, since the upper and lower ends of the spring 17 are positioned concentrically with the center of the guide projection 15, no tilting moment acts on the reel presser 16. Therefore, the lock teeth 19 and 20 are surely separated from each other, whereby the unlocking of the reel 2 can always be reliably performed. By pushing up the reel presser 16 via the unlocking tool 18, the reel presser 16 can be pushed up horizontally. Thereafter, by rotating the reel 2, the tape 3 can be fed or wound.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the spring 17. In this case, a tightly wound portion 37 that fits over the guide projection 15 is provided on the upper part of the spring 17 so that the shift movement of the spring 17 can be more reliably regulated. The other parts are the same as those in the above-described embodiment. The same applies to the following embodiments.

The spring receiver 36 is, as shown in FIG.
And a spring 17 can be received on the outer peripheral surface thereof.

The spring 17 is preferably formed in a tapered coil shape, but a cylindrical coil spring similar to a conventional spring can also be applied. In this case, the upper end of the spring 17 is externally fitted to the protruding base end of the guide projection 15 and closely joined, and the lower end of the spring 17 is externally or internally fitted to the spring holder 36 provided on the reel retainer 16 to be closely joined. , Spring 17 and reel presser 16 are prevented from moving in the radial direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

FIG. 2 is an internal plan view of the tape cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an unlocked state of the reel lock mechanism.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the reel lock mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the unlocking tool.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view showing drive teeth of the reel.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the spring.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the spring receiver.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a conventional reel lock mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case main body 2 Reel 12 Boss 15 Guide protrusion 16 Reel retainer 17 Spring 18 Lock release tool 19/20 Lock teeth

Claims (3)

[Claims] A single reel on which a tape is wound is disposed inside a box-shaped case main body, and a reel is provided between an inner bottom of a boss provided at the center of the reel and an upper wall of the case main body. A tape cartridge provided with a reel lock mechanism for preventing idle rotation of the reel when not in use, wherein the reel lock mechanism slides up and down with a guide protrusion protruding from an inner surface of an upper wall of the case body and a guide protrusion. The reel retainer, which can be engaged and guided only possible, a spring that presses down and presses the reel retainer, a lock tooth that is provided between the reel retainer and the inner bottom of the boss and meshes with each other, and is pushed up by the drive shaft D. And an upper and lower ends of the spring are assembled to the upper wall of the case body and the seat of the reel retainer so as to be relatively non-movable in the radial direction. Features A single reel type tape cartridge. 2. The spring according to claim 1, wherein the spring is formed of a tapered spring having a tapered upper shape. The upper end of the spring is tightly joined to the base end of the guide projection so as to be fitted, and the lower end of the spring is seated. 2. The single reel type tape cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the single reel type tape cartridge is in close contact with a spring receiver provided in the portion. 3. A restricting wall for restricting tilting of the reel presser is provided on a peripheral edge of the reel presser. The restricting wall receives a lower end outer peripheral surface of a spring at a base end of the restrictor, and the restricting wall also serves as a spring receiver. The single-reel tape cartridge according to claim 1.